Common Household Objects As Exercise Equipments

While you may laze around thinking you don’t have equipments at home to work out with, and surprisingly, no time for gym, there are people using household items as exercise equipment. You don’t have to go to the gym if you don’t want to. In fact, you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your own home to get in a solid sweat session. Now that you are wondering what to use for your workout, here are 12 household items you can use for strength training that can double as great exercise equipment.

1. Dining Chair/Stool for Push-ups and Tricep Dips: We know that chair is a designated laundry dump, but it can be used for purposes more than that. Tricep dips will show improvement in stability, flexibility and range of motion in your shoulders and arms. For the push-up, rest your hands on the chair seat instead of the floor and continue with a regular push-up.
2. Backpack Magic: As a kid, you would remember carrying 15 kilos of books to school everyday. Well, you have to do just that, but at home. To add weight to body weight exercises, such as squats, lunges, and pushups, carry a backpack full of books and canned foods (make sure it’s an amount you can handle). You can even take the backpack off and grasp the straps to perform curls, shoulder presses, or makeshift kettlebell swings.
   
3. Bookworm’s Blessings: A thick hardcover book can be great for strengthening the core muscles. Look to a thick volume, such as a hardcover dictionary, to use in abdominal exercises such as crunches. Keep the book on your chest as you’re lifting your abs and middle up, but be sure not to strain your neck.
   
4. Fabric Hand Towel and Paper Plates: These can be used as an alternative to sliders. You can easily re-use these for your next exercise too! You’re actually working your muscles harder to maintain your balance because the amount of friction between you and the floor has decreased. You can modify some exercises to include lunges or mountain climbers to give them a different spin. Controlling this sliding motion is challenging, so be sure to take it slow and steady!
5. Fruits, Not to Eat, but Workout: Fill a carry bag with fruits. Trust us, a bag of fruits can go a long way as the health benefits can extend to your tricep development! Use that bag as a tricep extension. The same bag can be used for kettlebell exercises. But make sure that the bag is sealed to prevent yourself from making a mess! 
6. Pack that Suitcase: You can fill up a luggage bag with canned goods to try to replicate the barbells in the gym. With bigger equipment in your home, you can now perform those deadlifts! You can also use a laundry basket for a deadlift.
7. Use a Couch for Glutei Bridges: Lie face up on the floor and rest your heels on the edge of your couch. Squeeze through the glutes and raise your hips, creating a straight line from shoulders to knees. Lower back to start for 1 repetition. Repeat.
   
8. The Old School Workout With Stairs: If you’ve got stairs in your home, you can get a cardio workout just walking up and down them a few times. Carry around any heavy objects while you do, and you’ve added weight resistance. Avoid the lift as much as you can.
9. Beer Bottles: These can be used a substitute for super lightweight dumbbells. The narrow bottle makes it easy to grip. Plus, if you pull the bottles straight from the fridge, they’re nice and cool to hold!
10. Beach Towel as Yoga Mat: Lay down your towel. It won’t feel as thick as a yoga mat, so you can double up if you want extra padding. And if you’re on a smooth surface, you can fold them up and use them for sliding exercises, much like the paper plates mentioned above.
11. A Duffel Bag As Sandbag: Fill a duffle bag with a bunch of clothes, and get ready to test strength, balance, and patience.
12. Use a Bag of Flour as Heavyweight: Use the heavy weight to make basic bodyweight moves such as squats and lunges more challenging. Avoid a messy situation by placing the bag of flour in a Ziploc bag before you begin.

Heavy weights and complicated machinery are great, but they’re not necessary. All you have to do is get a little creative with what you’ve already got.